RIO GRANDE VALLEY – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Department of Intercollegiate Athletics learned on Wednesday that men's basketball head coach Kahil Fennell is a finalist for the 2025-26 Ben Jobe award, which is presented annually to the top minority head coach in Division I college basketball.
 
Fennell guided the Vaqueros to an 18-13 overall regular season record this season and to a program record 14 Southland Conference wins en route to a No. 3 seed in the Southland Conference (SLC) Tournament. 
 
After a 16-15 record in his first season, Fennell has guided the program to its first back-to-back winning seasons since the 1988-89 and 1989-90 seasons. Fennell has a combined 34 wins so far through his first two seasons with the program marking the third most for a coach in their first two seasons in program history only behind Bill White, who recorded 38 wins from 1976-78 and Abe Lemons, who recorded 35 wins from 1973-75.
 
Fennell saw the Vaqueros finish the regular season ranked first in the SLC in field goal percentage (47.2), free throw percentage (75.6), and assists per game (16.6) while ranking second in three-point percentage (37.2). 
 
The Vaqueros finished the regular season with a program record 126^th KenPom ranking and a NET ranking of 137, both third in the SLC.
 
The Ben Jobe Award is named in honor of one of the most iconic coaches in the history of basketball at Historically Black Colleges and Universities. He is best known as the head coach of Southern University, a position he held for 12 seasons. He was also head coach at Alabama A&M, Alabama State, Talladega, Tuskegee, and South Carolina State.
 
Coach Jobe passed away on March 10, 2017.
 
The recipient of the annual award is determined by a 10-member voting committee, which consists of current and former head coaches, as well as two senior staff members of collegeinsider.com. 
 
The 2026 award will be announced in Indianapolis, In., the site of the men's at NCAA Championship. 
 
The Vaqueros will face the winner between No. 6 Nicholls and No. 7 Northwestern State in the Quarterfinals of the SLC Tournament on Monday at 7:30 p.m. at the Townsley Law Arena in Lake Charles, La.

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